Daniel Boone was an American pioneer, explorer, woodsman, and frontiersman, whose frontier exploits made him one of the first folk heroes of the United States. Boone is most famous for his exploration and settlement of what is now Kentucky. It was still considered part of Virginia but was on the western side of the Appalachian Mountains from most European-American settlements. As a young adult, Boone supplemented his farm income by hunting and trapping game, and selling their pelts in the fur market. Through this occupational interest, Boone first learned the easy routes to the area. Despite some resistance from American Indian tribes such as the Shawnee, in 1775, Boone blazed his Wilderness Road from North Carolina and Tennessee through Cumberland Gap in the Cumberland Mountains into Kentucky. There, he founded the village of Boonesborough, Kentucky, one of the first American settlements west of the Appalachians. Before the end of the 18th century, more than 200,000 Americans migrated to Kentucky/Virginia by following the route marked by Boone.
The Holston River is a 136-mile (219 km) river that flows from Kingsport, Tennessee, to Knoxville, Tennessee. Along with its three major forks, it comprises a major river system that drains much of northeastern Tennessee, southwestern Virginia, and northwestern North Carolina. The Holston's confluence with the French Broad River at Knoxville marks the beginning of the Tennessee River.
West Virginia Route 3 is a state highway in the U.S. state of West Virginia. It runs from West Virginia Route 10 in West Hamlin in a general easterly direction via Beckley to West Virginia Route 311 at Sweet Springs, most of the way across the state.
The Battle of Blair Mountain was the largest labor uprising in United States history and one of the largest, best-organized, and most well-armed uprisings since the American Civil War.
Nellis is an unincorporated community coal town in Boone County, West Virginia, United States on Brush Creek. The Nellis Historic District was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2000. Nellis was named by mine owners Matthew Slush and T.E.B. Siler after Frank E. Nellis, editor of the "Mount Clemens Independent" in Michigan.
A longhunter was an 18th-century explorer and hunter who made expeditions into the American frontier wilderness for as much as six months at a time. Historian Emory Hamilton asserts that "The Long Hunter was peculiar to Southwest Virginia only, and nowhere else on any frontier did such hunts ever originate" although the term has been used loosely to describe any unofficial American explorer of the period. Most long hunts started in the Holston River Valley near Chilhowie, Virginia. The hunters came from there and the adjacent valley of the Clinch River, where they were land owners or residents. The parties of two or three men usually started their hunts in October and ended toward the end of March or early in April.
Ephraim Franklin Morgan was born on a farm near Forksburg, Marion County, West Virginia, a descendent of the first white settler of western Virginia, Morgan Morgan, and his son David Morgan. He studied at Fairmont State Normal School and graduated from the West Virginia University law school in 1897. After establishing a law practice in Fairmont, Morgan enlisted in the First West Virginia Infantry during the Spanish–American War. Following the war, he became the Fairmont city attorney. He served as a judge of the Marion County Intermediate Court from 1907 to 1912 and as a member of the West Virginia Public Service Commission from 1915 to 1920. In 1902, he married Alma Bennett.
Barrett is a small unincorporated community and coal town with a population of 781 in Boone County in the U.S. state of West Virginia. Barrett lies along the Pond Fork River. Barrett was named for Charles Barrett of Madison who was an employee of the Cole & Crane Lumber Company which had a mill there.
The Buckskin Council is the local council of the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) that serves Scouts in Scouts in Kentucky, Ohio, Virginia and West Virginia.
Lindytown is an unincorporated community in Boone County, West Virginia, United States. Lindytown was founded at the time Charles A. Lindbergh made his famous flight across the Atlantic and is based on a 50-acre (200,000 m2) tract of land. Lindytown is approximately 22 miles (35 km) from Madison. Lindytown is accessible from Boone County Route 26, which is located right off of West Virginia Route 85 at the Van Bridge split.
Gordon is an unincorporated community and coal town in Boone County, West Virginia, United States. Gordon is approximately 12 miles from Madison. Gordon is accessible from Boone County Route 26, which is located right off West Virginia Route 85 at the Van Bridge split.
Peytona is an unincorporated community in Boone County, West Virginia, United States. Peytona is located on the Big Coal River and West Virginia Route 3 9 miles (14 km) northeast of Madison. Peytona has a post office with ZIP code 25154.
Linville is an unincorporated community located in Rockingham County, in the U.S. state of Virginia. It is located 6 miles north of Harrisonburg, Virginia. It contains the Linville United Church of Christ.
Greenwood is an unincorporated community in Boone County, West Virginia, United States. Greenwood is located along West Virginia Route 85 and Pond Fork 18 miles (29 km) south-southeast of Madison.
Bradley is an unincorporated community in Boone County, West Virginia.
Boone was an unincorporated community in Fayette County, West Virginia.
The Boonslick, or Boone's Lick Country, is a cultural region of Missouri along the Missouri River that played an important role in the westward expansion of the United States and the development of Missouri's statehood in the early 19th century. The Boone's Lick Road, a route paralleling the north bank of the river between St. Charles and Franklin, Missouri, was the primary thoroughfare for settlers moving westward from St. Louis in the early 19th century. Its terminus in Franklin marked the beginning of the Santa Fe Trail, which eventually became a major conduit for Spanish trade in the American Southwest. Later it connected to the large emigrant trails, including the Oregon and California Trails, used by pioneers, gold-seekers and other early settlers of the West. The region takes its name from a salt spring or "lick" in western Howard County, where Nathan and Daniel Morgan Boone, sons of famed frontiersman Daniel Boone, built a homestead in 1807.
The Hobet 21 Coal Mine in West Virginia was operational between 1974 and 2015. Straddling the border of Boone County and Lincoln County in the Appalachian Mountains, the Hobet 21 mine was one of the largest mountaintop-removal coal mining operations in West Virginia. Originally owned by Fil Nutter, the mine used both underground mining and strip mining techniques, and later even more intensive surface mining using a dragline. Increasing productivity and profitability encouraged workers to successfully strike for their health plan in 1993, which resulted in unusually thorough coverage for mine workers at this time. The Hobet mine was incorporated into Arch Coal in 1997, along with several other mines, following booming coal demand. The mine was sold two more times: to Magnum Coal in 2005 and to Patriot Coal in 2008. Patriot Coal subsequently went bankrupt in 2015, and the Hobet site was passed into a Virginia-based conservation firm who continued to mine the land while reclaiming and planting trees to offset carbon emissions for other companies.
